Friday, September 05, 2008

What I loved

FACT: I've always wanted to write a successful children's/teenager book series - this is actually a life goal for me and something I think I can do. Maybe not now, but it will happen. And I already have a few concrete ideas in mind.

So what books did I myself enjoy as a child?

Well, the number one series that I LOVED was The Babysitters Club. And if you remember that series at all, you have to check out THIS BLOG. FUCKING HILARIOUS!

What did I love about this series? Well, it had everything - romance, ghosts, horses. I loved it all, except all the damn babysitting business. Didn't like children when I was 12 and I still don't! LOL.

But what do I really remember about the series? Well here are some things off of the top of my head:

-Mary-Anne Spier totally did a turn around when she became Dawn's stepsister (hence the title of the book "Dawn's Wicked Stepsister"). She went from a meek and indifferent girl (at least I was indifferent) to a fucking psycho bitch. And why was SHE the one with the "hot" redneck boyfriend, who looked like a total douche on all the covers. In Maryanne's defense though, as squeamish and exasperatingly shy as she was, she did have a good sense of humour.

-Kristy Thomas. A turtleneck with jeans. I can not wear this outfit without thinking of you, though I must wonder WHY is a turtleneck with a jeans a "tomboy" outfit? At least put her in a wifebeater and surfer shorts. Kristy was also loud and brash (and liked to sit in a director's chair) but I didn't mind it as much as the other characters did. So, she didn't wear makeup. SHE WAS 13! Fucking hated her little sister Karen though - on all the covers she was just the nastiest looking girl you'd ever see.

-Claudia Kishi. WAS SO COOL! No not really, I have no idea what Ann M. Martin was going for when she dressed her up. A sample of Claudia's AWESOME sense of style? Earrings the size of doorknobs. Hair piled to one side of her head with clips shaped like seashells. Purple "leggings." A long man's shirt with huge appliques of vegetables plastered all over it.

I'm seriously tempted to find all my books and start posting what she wore from every novel, it would be hilarious.

Claudia was quite funny though and she was worse at Math than I was which made me feel better. And her love of Nancy Drew novels was endearing. But even though she was half-Japanese, she never ate any sushi and that really disappoints me. She also hid candy all over her room. You know that right now, at age 25 or whatever, Claudia Kishi is one big fat tub of lard.

-Dawn Schaffer was my favourite because she was laid-back, had looooong blonde hair (which, btw, NEVER looked that long on the covers and which really pissed me off)and had a mom that left her keys in the fridge. They also had a house with a ghost (the Ghost at Dawn's House) which I thought was AWESOME. Dawn had come from California and ate a lot of sprouts, avocado, yogurt and granola. Which seemed weird at the time but now it's just obvious her mom shopped at Whole Foods.

-Stacey. I forget her last name. Anyway, Stacey was the pretty diabetic girl (OOOH HOW CONTROVERSIAL) from New York. Stacey, in my opinion, was a snob and a bitch. She would often lament how people thought she was a snob but she never mentioned that people also thought she was a selfish bitch. Cuz she was. Go ahead, eat the candy!

-Mallory Pike. She had red-hair and freckles and seven brothers and sisters. Enough said.

-Jessie Ramsay. She was a ballerina. She was also African American, which in their whitebread Nazi town, was ALMOST as bad as having diabetes!

I especially loved the Super Series – they were quite atmospheric. The blizzard one, the California one (where Mallory gets obsessed with makeup and dies her hair BLONDE – can you imagine how ugmo she musta looked?) , the one where they all went to camp (stupid Stacey fell asleep in poison ivy), the one when they went to the ski resort, the one where they went sailing and ended up on a desert island.

There are a few books too that I loved more than others. I liked it when Mary-anne and Stacey went to “Sea City.” I liked “Claudia and the Phantom Phone caller.” “Mary-anne’s bad luck mystery” “Ghost at Dawn’s House” “Goodbye Stacey, Goodbye” (YES THANK GOD!) “Dawn on the Coast” (so CALI-awesome), “Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook” “Dawn and the We Love Kids Club” and etc. I actually didn’t read many books past the #50 mark. Looking back, I now find it odd the last book written was “The Fire at Dawn’s House” – does that mean they all died in it?

Other books that I loved as a child was:

-The Saddle Club Series (I may have to devote a post to that one)

-Fear Street (although I HATED how at the end of every book it was always found to be a “rational” explanation – it’s FEAR street. Let there be reason to fear! What also got me was the fact that WHY oh why was everyone living on this street?) For a funny look at Fear Street as we know it, click here

-Christopher Pike – not technically a series but these horror teen books always stayed with me. I recently bought a bunch at a used store and am looking to start reading them again (I can finish one in a day). I remember one called Monster which was fucking nuts –it started off with some party where some guy showed up with a shotgun and started blowing people away. I distinctly remember being awed by phrases “his pink guts started to slide down the wall.” I also remember one that I think was called Whisper of Death. From what a recall, a girl goes in to get an abortion and when she wakes up, she finds there is no one left in her town (or the world). I’m not sure if this was an pro-life novel or not but I certainly second guessed abortions after reading it, lest I wake up to an empty world and have a witch (who used to be your friend) living in your womb and stabbing you with sewing needles.

Believe it or not, I still have ALL of my babysitters club books and ALL of my sweet valley high books, and a few of my Christopher pike books.I LOVED Stacey and thought she was the coolest EVER - I LOVED her "Style" and wanted my room in red, black and white just like her.

OMG! This brought me back. I loved these books and read them all when I was in middle/early high school. I even wanted to start my own Babysitter's club. I think I still have all my BSC, SVH and SVT books somewhere in my parents house.

About Me

I've been many things in my life: an aspiring screenwriter, a journalist, a marketing lackey, a vagabond solo traveler, a frugal fashionista, a music journalist and now, an author of a much-loved Young Adult supernatural series - one thing that'll never change? My urge to be Anywhere But Here.